Posted on 06/19/2002 6:19:24 PM PDT by RCW2001
| Israel industrialist urges Middle East Marshall Plan | |
|
|
|
By Tova Cohen
TEFEN, Israel, June 20 (Reuters) - From a remote location
amid the rolling green hills of northern Israel, industrialist
Stef Wertheimer presides over a billion dollar empire.
But not content with just running a global business, the
tireless 76-year-old has dedicated his life to fostering
Israel's economic independence and promoting peaceful
coexistence with its neighbours.
To this end Wertheimer, a former member of parliament, has
proposed that the United States and the European Union sponsor a
"mini Marshall Plan", a scaled down version of the one that
rebuilt Europe after World War Two.
Wertheimer's plan would focus on three countries initially
-- Jordan, Turkey and Israel. Eventually it would be expanded to
the Palestinians in the hopes that more economic opportunities
would extinguish violence and stabilise the region.
These countries, Wertheimer said, should be designated part
of the Eastern Mediterranean rather than the Middle East as they
lack oil and must develop other means to be competitive.
"I have spent time in the United States, England and Germany
to explain the need for money for an eight-year mini-Marshall
plan that would double income per capita," Wertheimer said in an
interview at the Tefen industrial park, one of four such parks
he has founded in Israel.
The programme would fund the industrial development,
infrastructure and technical training needed to make these
countries competitive in the global market. Eventually they
would be qualified to join the European Union.
Wertheimer has met leading officials at the World Bank and
has touted his idea in Britain's House of Lords.
Later this month he is scheduled to meet World Bank
President James Wolfensohn as well as U.S. Representative Henry
Hyde, an Illinois Republican and chairman of the U.S. House of
Representatives International Relations Committee.
He will also meet Deputy Assistant Secretary of State
Elizabeth Cheney, daughter of U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney.
JORDAN FIRST
Wertheimer said Jordan should be the first aid recipient,
serving as a pilot project.
"They have a desire to be part of the Western world,"
Wertheimer said. "If Jordan flourished it would serve as a model
for the entire region and Israel's security would be enhanced."
Wertheimer noted the vast difference between income in the
oil-rich countries of the Gulf and the rest of the Middle East,
excluding Israel.
While gross domestic product per capita in Kuwait, for
example, is some $15,000, less than the $17,000 level in
technology-rich Israel, in Jordan it is under $2,000.
Wertheimer estimated $1 billion would be needed in Jordan
for the first four years and another $1 billion for the next
four years, with the aim of raising GDP per capita to $6,000.
Ten times this amount would be needed for much larger
Turkey, which Wertheimer called "the most important country in
the area for Israel".
The funds would be designated for infrastructure and
manufacturing, not social welfare, and would be funnelled
through an institution such as the World Bank or International
Monetary Fund rather than local governments.
"This way you involve the aid recipients in the formulation
of the economic recovery rather than impose a fixed solution,"
Wertheimer said.
Wertheimer, who escaped the Nazis when he was a boy, founded
Iscar Ltd in 1952, one of the world's top two makers of carbide
cutting tools used in the automobile, aerospace and electronics
industries. Located in Tefen, Iscar is the lead company in IMC,
an international group of metalworking companies under his
ownership whose annual sales approach $1 billion.
In 1967, in response to Charles de Gaulle's embargo on
French weapon sales to Israel, Wertheimer began to manufacture
jet engine blades. From then on Israel was no longer dependent
on imported blades.
In the past few years United Technologies Corporation's
Pratt & Whitney and Rolls Royce have become
partners with him in the creation of Blades Technologies
International Inc and TechJet. He has also built a third blades
industry in China.
TEFEN A ROLE MODEL
Since 1982 Wertheimer has built four industrial parks on
Israel's periphery -- both in the north and south -- and will
soon start on a fifth. The companies in his parks export $600
million a year.
The first park was Tefen, located in the hills of the
Galilee just a few miles from Israel's border with Lebanon.
On a clear day from Tefen one can see to the Golan Heights
in the east and to the Mediterranean in the west.
"My idea (for Jordan and Turkey) is based on what I have
done in the Galilee," Wertheimer said.
The Tefen facility includes four museums and dozens of open
air sculptures and art galleries, in addition to some 20
companies.
The parks are designed to promote export and encourage
entrepreneurs. They include incubator facilities, where start-up
firms can remain for five years.
Less than two years ago Wertheimer reached an agreement with
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to build two industrial
parks, one in Gaza and the other just across the border in
Israel. However, the outbreak of the Palestinian Intifada, or
uprising, in September 2000 interrupted the project.
Wertheimer is now adapting his model of an industrial park
to Turkey, in Gebze near Istanbul, together with Turkish
partners. Wertheimer will put up about half of the initial $10
million investment for the park, which will house companies in
the electronics, metals and software industries.
Talks are underway to create a qualified industrial zone in
Gebze, which would allow goods to enter the United States
without customs duties. In order to qualify, the production
would have to include both Israeli and Turkish participation.
Ultimately, Wertheimer said, creating economic growth and
opportunity in these countries will benefit the entire world. If
ignored, an unstable and undeveloped region will provide fertile
ground for militants.
"When people have nothing to lose, that's when they become
dangerous," he said.
((Tel Aviv newsroom, +972-3-537-2211, ext 238,
telaviv.newsroom@reuters.com))
19 JUN 2002 23:30:12 FEATURE-Israel industrialist urges Middle East Marshall Plan
Whats a few billion(s) more in foreign aid, anyway...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.